It’s been a fun week of getting back on schedule after returning home from my extended trip. I went for a couple of runs, announced an appearance at Burbank Book Festival, and was a guest speaker at the Pasadena Rotary.
I thought it might’ve been a challenge to talk about running to a room filled with non-runners, but it turned out that half the room were runners, and the other half was just very curious to find out what I was talking about.
H is for Hybrid Rockstars
You might have seen a clip of the Australian athlete, Joanna Wietrzyk completing her little Hyrox challenge in China with poop running down both her legs. I should be somewhat desensitized to such things as a father-of-two and seeing my kids doing such things in the first two years of their life, but it was disgusting.
Yes, that’s right. I have subtly likened the Puma-sponsored athlete to a toddler. Yes, there’s a good joke to be made about ‘I’m gonna Puma pants,’ but I’m mainly talking in terms of her ability to go potty at an appropriate moment, and in terms of bloody-mindedly completing the course even when it made the day interminably worse for everyone else around her.
ANYWAY. As runners, we actually talk very openly about (almost) pooping our pants while on a run.
One of the things I spoke to Alyssa Clark about in last week’s long-read was how she has no large intestine.
Last October in New York, I stepped onstage for a 10-minute solo skit about poop, fiber, and hereditary high cholesterol with Laura Green and Lydia Keating.
Serial outdoors enthusiast, Brendan Leonard has created a lot of content around pooping outdoors, because I presume he has put in his 10,000 hours of pooping outdoors.
Yeah, parent or not, pooping ain’t that scary to runners. We just try to find a bathroom or dig a hole in the ground far away from fellow runners, rather than make everyone run and burpee through our excrement. Regardless, hybrid events are becoming massively popular among runners.
Six years into the latest running boom and The Brands are looking at what’s next. The smart money has been focused on trail for the past few years, and Hyrox and triathlon are next in line. Puma and Nike have the Hyrox world in their crosshairs, and Salomon just announced a sponsorship of Ironman.
I can spot a hybrid athlete a mile off. They’re the ones who were alarmingly fast at run club on their first go because they already had a decade of thrice-weekly gym experience under their belt, despite “never having run before.” You know the ones. They were the classmate that promised they never studied for the exam that they then got an A+ in.
When they signed up for a marathon, they’re the ones that actually listened to the advice to lift heavy so as to strengthen their legs, which both adds speed and lessens fatigue when running long distances. That’s good stuff for runners.
The thing is: you can’t tell competitive people to lift heavy and not expect them to get really competitive about it. It’s natural for those people to gravitate towards such hybrid events. They won’t leave the world of running, but it’s not so cut and dried for them. They contain sporting multitudes, and likely still identify as runners, just like you and I.
Maybe this has ended up as a note about accepting the diversity of runner that comes with a rapidly expanded base in our community. Not all of them will think to poop in private.
Last week on Running Sucks
The focus of my conversation with Alyssa Clark was not about the diet she has to keep because of her lack of colon (zero fiber, extra salt), but more about how crewing for other ultra runners is an essential part of being a good trail community member.
That’s right. It’s not about building a good business or getting good sponsorships or perfecting that DNF Report. It’s about supporting other people. Who knew??
Vote for David Miller
I interviewed British photographer David Miller in 2024. My introduction to him was that he took the marvelous cover photo for Allie Bailey’s brilliant book, There is No Wall. That story ended with three of his award-winning photographs in my own book.
He’s up for three British Photography Awards (!!!), so here’s a request to take 30 seconds out of your day to go and vote for him.
Get your copy of This is Running
Here’s another request for you to review my book. I know it’s a massive inconvenience, but the more ratings it has, the higher up the algorithm it gets.
USA - Bookshop.org US | Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Signed copy (US)
UK - Bookshop.org UK | Amazon UK | Waterstones
Review This is Running - Goodreads
Work with me in 2027
If you’re a brand marketer and you want to be more formally associated with this newsletter, me as an author, or as a public speaker/host, do get in touch.
email: raz@runningsucks101.com
Hail the Daily Trainer
Katie Douglas of Running Wylder posted a lovely matrix of daily trainers on IG the other day, and I spent a minute looking it over, approving of pretty much every shoe on there. In fact, I saw a few of my regular shoes there, including the New Balance Ellipse, Brooks Adrenaline, and the R.A.D. Synth, which I’m currently considering.
Running Wylder was broken into and ransacked by thieves yesterday, so if you want to support the best running store in the world (in my educated opinion), go and buy something from the online store if you can.
Do you speak Italian?
A couple of weeks ago, I met Daniele Milano, editor-in-chief of gorgeous Italian magazine 4running. Hopefully by now you understand how much I love magazines, so seeing a fellow magazine journalist understand the very specific way my book is constructed is really cool.
“The structure is deliberately fragmented: photographs, short texts, testimonials, and graphic elements create a mosaic. There is no linear plot, but rather a path that unfolds page after page, like a race that changes pace, environment, and perspective.”
“It’s an invitation to look at running from a broader perspective, one that doesn’t just concern training but also the way running enters people’s lives, cities, and communities. This is Running is, in this sense, a snapshot of contemporary running culture. A must-read!”
I am thankful for Google Translate.
NYC Marathon
I’ll be in NYC for the marathon at the end of October. Expect some announcements in a couple of weeks’ time, but the stuff I’ve been cooking up is 10/10.
If you haven’t got your accommodation sorted, there are a few rooms left at the Walker Hotel in Tribeca, which is a 15 min walk to Rec Room NYC, put on by Cole Townsend , Lee Glandorf , and Katie Douglas.
Thanks for reading,
Raz xx
ME - Instagram | Strava | email: raz@runningsucks101.com